Postmaster Serves Community For 60 Years

By Marilyn Loeser As we welcomed in the New Year, Norma Larry was celebrating 60 years as the Cable, Ohio, postmaster. She's been a postmaster longer than anyone else in the nation and says, "I wanted to reach this milestone, but now that I'm here I'm not interested in retiring."

The 81-year-old said she moved to the small village when she was 4 years old. "I loved going to the post office and visiting with the postmaster, Florence Clay." Her parent's grocery store was just across the street.

At 21, she took the postmaster test and, earning the highest score, was sworn in December 31, 1948.

When the original Post Office burned down in 1955, Larry operated the post office in her parents' dining room for eight months. "The mail came just the same," she said. She ended up moving a small house she owned to Main Street, and had it gutted and rebuilt into the post office. The post office has remained in this location ever since.

Another major change came a decade ago when two rural routes were moved from her office to the Urbana Post Office. "But I still serve the village Post Office Box customers," she said. "I enjoy working.